| Man On Fire (1987) Cast:Scott Glenn,Joe Pesci,Jade Malle, Danny Aiello,Brooke Adams,Jonathan Pryce Scott Glenn stars as Creasy a Vietnam vet/ex-CIA agent who takes a bodyguard gig for a little girl, wanting to keep his job professional he ignores the little girl's advances, however slowly she wins him over and they bond, enter terrorist Danny Aiello who snatches her and threatens to kill her if her parents don't pay a hefty ransom, complicated issues also ensue when the cops refuse to let the parents pay. So Creasy decides to take matters in his own hands. (Spoilers) Man On Fire was critically creamed when it first came out. However when one looks at it Man On Fire is nothing but just a standard actioner with a great cast and more plot than usual. One doesn't quite understand the whole backlash of why this movie was so looked down upon. Scott Glenn is an excellent actor,no doubt about it and here he gives a more convincing performance of cool brutality which gives this a rather stong kick to the proceedings. Only Charles Bronson could've done such a part better. Pesci, Aiello and Malle all give good performances. Malle especially deserves credit for not becoming irritating. And through it all Man On Fire remains fairly watchable, the only reason why i'm not going all the way to recommend it is because the climax is just too sloppy. What does it mean? Who shot Scott Glenn at the end? Is Scott Glenn and the girl dead? Sadly none of this is answered leaving the reviewer from giving this a full recommendation. D.Elie Chouraqui**1/2 |